Let's turn to Isaiah 56. I'm
going to preach the passage I preached in Lexington at the conference.
I want everyone to hear this before we move on in Isaiah. You may have heard it when I
preached it there, but the message will be the same, but it never
comes out the same way. It will be good to hear it again. Let's begin reading in verse
8. The Lord God, which gathereth
the outcasts of Israel, saith, Yet will I gather to him beside
those that are gathered unto him. Yet will I gather. It's the Lord
who does the gathering. He's who gathers His people.
He said, I will gather. And He's gathering the outcasts
of Israel. This is not the political Israel. This is God's spiritual Israel.
Romans 9 says, they're not all Israel which are of Israel. That
is, those which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
sons of Abraham, but the children of promise are counted for the
seed. God's chosen people are the true Israel of God. That's
what he was typifying and picturing by choosing that political nation
Israel instead of choosing all the other nations in the world.
That's what he's done for his people who are from among the
Israel and from among the Gentile nations. How do we become outcasts? Well, we sinned in Adam. And
when we sinned in Adam, we were cast out by God whenever God
cast Adam out of the garden. And then after the flood, we
were cast out when God divided the world into three people in
the sons of Noah, the three sons of Noah. And then we were cast
out again by God at the Tower of Babel when we began trying
to build a tower to God and God confounded our languages and
divided the whole earth. You go on every continent on
this planet, and you can find towers built. I just came from
Mexico, and there's towers being built, just like they were at
the Tower of Babel. And some of the architecture
is the same. It says in the Genesis, He divided the earth. He split
the continent. divided us but he says he's gathering
them and Ephesians 1 says in the in the dispensation of the
fullness of time in that stewardship when time is full he shall gather
together in one all his people in heaven and in earth even in
the Lord Jesus Christ he's gathering us in Christ that's what he's
doing and it says he's going to gather us to Christ to him
it says And it says, beside those, or right alongside those that
are already gathered to Him, He's going to gather those that
are to be gathered to Him. He's going to gather all those
who have yet to be gathered, who must be gathered, because
they're chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, and they must be brought
to faith in Christ. Because God will not pour out
judgment on them twice. He just won't do it. And so,
what we're reading here in these eight verses are going to be
a description of believers. They're already gathered. They're
already gathered by God. And they believe on the Lord,
their surety. Now, you're going to see some
things here that are Old Testament language, because in the day
that Isaiah delivered this word, this is how true believers worship
God. But now that old covenant is
fulfilled by Christ and he's the end of the law and we don't
worship the way they did, observing days and so on. We rest in Christ
through faith. Now, let's see a few of things
here that show us these are believers. In verse 2, he describes the
believer as he that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and
keepeth his hand from doing any evil. All the Sabbath days were
a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were all a shadow of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord has come. Turn to
Colossians 2. I want you to see this. The Lord
has come. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. The Lord has come and He's fulfilled
the shadow. He's the very image of it, the
very body of which was a shadow. And so now believers are taught
in the New Testament, you don't observe holy days and new moons
and sabbaths anymore. You don't do that because we
have the very image. We have Christ himself. Now look
here in Colossians 2 and verse 14, it says that Christ blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. That means he fulfilled all the
types and shadows including the Sabbaths. Look down now at verse
16. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon
or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come. That's what they were. They were
just a shadow. But the body is of Christ, you see. If you have
If you have that chair right there, and then you have a shadow
of that chair right there, which one are you going to sit down
in? The chair or the shadow? I'm going to sit down in the
chair. It'll hold me. The shadow won't hold you. Well,
if you go back to the law and start trying to keep, observe
meats and holy days and Sabbath days and all that, you're trying
to sit down in a shadow and it's not going to save you. You got
to rest in Christ our rest, in Christ our Sabbath. That's who
we sit down in. He says, look down the page there
in Colossians 2. He says, Men who will teach you
that, verse 19, are not holding the head, Christ the head, from
which all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment,
ministered, and knit together, and increase with the increase
of God. Now listen to this. Wherefore, if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, the elements of the
world, the rudiments of the world, is the law. That's what he's
talking about. If you're dead with Christ, if you died with
Christ on Calvary's tree, You died to the law and that husband
died to you. Now look, if you're dead with
Christ, why, as though your life is in this world, why, as though
you live in this world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch
not, taste not, handle not. Isn't that just clear that he's
talking about the law? Look at verse chapter 3. If you then
be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth, because you're dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. That's where my life
is. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
you also appear with Him in glory. If you ever get a hold of that,
or if God gets a hold of you with that, brethren, I'm telling
you, you'll have some rest. You'll have some rest. You quit
trying to come to God by your touch, not taste, not handle,
not." Now look here. So we're not to observe a Sabbath
day, but that Sabbath day pictured what we do in Christ. Number
one, on the Sabbath day, they were to rest from all their works. And if they lifted a finger,
they were doing evil. When God calls us to Christ,
we rest in Christ from all our works of trying to come to God
by our obedience to the law because Christ has fulfilled it for His
people. If we go back to that law now and start observing that
shadow when we have the Christ Himself We're lifting our finger to add
to His work and God won't have that. That's evil. He won't have
it. We rest in Christ. We rest in
Him. The second thing they did was
they trusted God to provide bread for them that whole Sabbath day. They trusted God to provide.
Christ, in giving us a commentary on the day that He gave the man
in the wilderness and He gave the Sabbath, Christ gave a commentary
on that in John 6. And He said, I'm the bread from
heaven. I'm the true bread from heaven. And He said this, He
that believes on Me, he that eats My flesh and drinks My blood,
he that believes on Me shall never hunger and he'll never
thirst. We are trusting Christ this whole
Sabbath day of grace from the first time Christ entered this
world until He comes again. We're resting this whole day
of rest by His grace in Christ who feeds us and who will never
hunger again. We have righteousness and holiness
and we'll never hunger again. And then the third thing they
did, they rested in Christ from their works, they trusted Him
to provide all the bread they needed, and the third thing is,
they went around to everybody in their house and they were
to declare, this is God's Sabbath rest. Take the yoke off. You
don't have to work. It's done. The work's done. We
can rest now on this day. And brethren, the believers left
in this world, right now, you and I, as the Church of God are
in this world, to spread forth the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Christ, through this gospel,
will take the yoke off of every one of His people and say, I
am your rest, rest in me. And then they'll rest. That's
our mission in this world, is to declare His name and His work
and what He's done. And then in verse 3, He describes
the believer as he that has joined himself to the Lord. joined himself
to the Lord. This is what we do through faith.
It's because God joined us to Christ before the foundation
of the world. And Christ joined himself to us when he came in
our flesh. And now we're risen with Christ
and seated at the right hand of the Father. He quickened us
together with Christ. He raised us together with Christ.
And we sat down together with Christ. And he comes to each
one. And he makes us, gives us faith
to believe on the Lord. And he said, my people shall
be willing in the day of Christ's power. And he brings us to be
joined to the Lord. And the scripture says, we're
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Vitally, inseparably
united with Christ. He said, this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. And then in verse
4, he describes the believer as he that takes hold of my covenant.
Verse 4, he says, he that takes hold of my covenant. The covenant
that God makes with his child. This is the law he writes on
our hearts. And it's the covenant whereby
God declares, there's nothing left in your hand. God's done
it all. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit do all the work necessary to bring us
to God. That's how God gets all the glory
and we get none. And when the Lord made this everlasting
covenant in the heart of David, David said, this is all my hope
and all my salvation. God's done it. God's done it.
That first covenant was a covenant of works. God said, you do and
you'll live. And he showed we couldn't. The
everlasting covenant is a covenant where he says, it's all done.
It's all done. Alright, in verse 6 he says,
were those who joined themselves to the Lord to serve him, to
love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. The willing
bond servant. Remember the willing bond servant?
When his time came up that he could be set free. Christ comes
to you and He makes you to know you're free from the law. By
what He's done, you're free. You're free to go. But that willing
bondservant saw how his master loved him, and he loved his master,
and his master provided everything for him. He was a good master,
and that bondservant said, I want to stay with you. I want to serve
you the rest of my days. And he took him to the door post
and he bore his ear through with an awl, marked him, and he became
his for the rest of his days. That's whatever believer he is
before God. A willing bondservant. Bound
to our Lord, our master, because he's such a good master. We want
to serve him. We want to serve him. So the
point being is, he's speaking here to believers already gathered
to the Lord. They're already gathered. Now,
we're going to see first of all a word about obedience. And then
secondly, a word about discouragement. And then thirdly, a word about
assurance. First of all, here's a word concerning
obedience to our Master, to the Lord Jesus. In verse 1, he says,
Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment. The word is equity.
And do justice, for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness
to be revealed. Blessed, happy is the man that
doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it. Now,
every believer is given a new heart by the Lord Jesus. That's
the only way we can believe on God. The natural man doesn't
receive the things of God because they're spiritually discerned.
But He gives us a new heart, and when He gives you a new heart,
He gives you a new will. You want to do that which He
says do. And the man that does that is
happy. That's what blessed means. He's a blessed man, blessed by
God, and he's a happy man because he wants to do what God says
do. Now number one, the way that we keep equity and do justice,
number one, is personally believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. When
it says there, do keep ye judgment, that word is equity, equitable,
what is equal. You and I, by our law keeping,
by our vain obedience, It didn't measure up to God's righteousness. It was not equal to God's righteousness. It was not equitable. And it
was not doing judgment. It was not doing judgment. So,
through faith in Christ, though, as we saw this morning, who established
the law for us, now we have Christ who is the righteousness of God.
And we're righteous in Him. We're righteous in Him. So, number
one, we keep equity and do justice through faith in Christ. Number
two, among men. As I said, we're in this world
to declare the gospel. That's what He's left us here
for. And the number one way that you keep that which is equitable
and do that which is just with men is declare the truth of this
gospel. We're here to preach the gospel
and send it far and wide into this world because he still has
a sheep he's going to call out. And so this is how we do judgment
and keep equity as we preach this gospel to sinners. Look
over at Isaiah 56. Right after our text down there
in verse 10, he begins to speak about the false prophet. And
he says, his watchmen are blind. They're all ignorant. They're
dumb dogs. They can't bark. They sleep. They lie down. They
love to slumber. That's describing those false
preachers who preach a false gospel. And then in chapter 58,
verse 1, he speaks to his preachers and he says, So you see, this
is the second way that we keep judgment and do equity is we
declare the gospel, we preach the gospel. And then thirdly, because we
are preaching the gospel, Christ said, I've made you a
light in a dark world. And he described it. He gave
us this image of a city on a hill in the middle of the night. You
can see that city from a long ways off. It's all lit up. And
he gave the description of a candle that's lit up. He said, you don't
light a candle and put it under a bush, under a bushel or under
a bed. You light it and you put it out
so people can see by it. And that's who we are as children
of God. We've been lit up by Christ,
the light. And we're to set forth the light.
And he says to us in Titus, because we're declaring the gospel, and
because we want people to hear Christ in this gospel, he says
to you and I, in Titus 2, 5, as he's describing things here
for the women to teach the young ladies and for the men to teach
the men, the young men, he says, that the word of God be not blasphemed. That's our reason for this, that
the word of God be not blasphemed. And then again, he says in verse
10, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. This is what we're trying to
do in this world. We don't want this gospel to
be blasphemed. We don't want our God to be blasphemed. We
want to adorn the gospel in all things. All right. Young believers,
sometimes you hear us preach and you hear we declare that
we're not saved by works of righteousness which we have done. That's what
he said in Titus 3. It's not by works of righteousness
which we've done. And a young believer will say,
well then my works just don't matter then. I just can live
like I want to. It's great that I'm chosen of
God and redeemed by Christ and quickened by His Spirit and so
it don't matter how I live. Does it matter to your earthly
father how you live? All he does is pay your room
and board. Our heavenly father has paid everything. And he says,
keep ye judgment and do justice, keep equity and do judgment.
All right. So look at this. Here's why. In verse one, Isaiah
56, one, he says, My salvation is near to come and my righteousness
to be revealed. Christ is salvation and he's
our righteousness. And whether it's in your in your
believing on the Lord, You know, you have doubts and you have
fears and all of these things. But Christ is always near. He
abides in His people and His people abide in Him. He's always
near. And He's always near to reveal
to us He's our only righteousness. And so He strengthens us and
He protects us and He keeps us always looking to Him alone.
And He's near to return. He's soon to come again. Very
soon. And then as we preach the gospel,
we can't make anybody believe this gospel. We don't have any
power to make anybody hear the word of God. But Christ is near. Remember what he told his disciples?
Lo, I'm with you always. And Christ is able to make his
righteousness, to reveal his righteousness in the hearts of
his people. And so, that's why we go forth. He said, all power is given to
me in heaven and earth. Therefore, Go you into all nations
preaching my word because He has the power to reveal His righteousness.
And in our daily dealings with men, one-on-one with men, when
you're wrong or you have opportunity to do wrong, remember The Lord's
near. He's near. And the Lord's near
to show you the right way. He's near to chasing you and
correct you. He's near to lead you and guide
you. And He's near. So He says in
all this, as you do judgment, as you preach this gospel, as
you believe this gospel yourself, and as you deal with men on a
daily basis, know that the Lord's near. And He's able to reveal
His righteousness. And He's coming again soon. This
is our motive. for doing that which He says
is right. And happy is the man that does it. Remember what Brother
Todd said? If you want to do that which... you want to be
happy. Everybody talks about wanting to be happy. You want
to do that which makes you happy? Do what God says. Do what He
says is right. Alright, here's the second thing.
A word concerning discouragement. He says, verse 3, Neither let
the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord,
speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his
people. Neither let the eunuch say, Behold,
I am a dry tree." Now, the son of the stranger is a Gentile.
That's who the son of the stranger is. But you see there, he's gathered
to the Lord. He's gathered to the Lord. The
Lord's gathered him. This is a true believer we're
talking about. And he says of this believer who's a Gentile,
don't let him say the Lord has utterly separated me from his
people. What would bring a believer to
say that? What would bring a believing Gentile to conclude the Lord
has utterly separated me from his people? You believe the Lord,
you believe what he's done for you. How on earth would you come
to this conclusion? There's but one way. There is
only one way you can draw that conclusion. If you took your
affection and your eyes off of your life hidden in Christ with
God at God's right hand and you went back to Mount Sinai to the
law and pulled out the law and began to read the law and it
says a Gentile can't come to my holy mountain. A Gentile cannot
approach me. He's unclean. He can't come into
my presence. And when you saw that law say
that, that a Gentile couldn't come, you know what that law
is going to bring you to do? To look at yourself. And you
conclude, I'm a Gentile. My race has separated me from
God. Alright, look what he says about
the eunuch. Neither let the eunuch say, behold, I'm a dry tree.
A eunuch, remember the Ethiopian eunuch? A eunuch was someone
who is damaged in his private parts. So he can't produce sons
or daughters. He can't produce fruit. And this
too, this is one who's gathered. He's gathered to the Lord. Already
gathered. He's a believer, the Lord's speaking
about. How would he know? What would
make him say, I'm a dry tree? Same thing. He goes back to the
law, takes his eyes off Christ in whom he is complete. He goes
back to the law and he reads the law and the law said this.
The eunuch cannot come into the Lord's house. Cannot do it. He cannot be a priest under God. And he cannot do any service
to God whereby he's bringing forth fruit unto God. He can't
do it. The law forbid it. He couldn't do it. And so the
eunuch reads that, and he says, I'm a dry tree. I'm cut off. I'm cut off. Well, God teaches his child in the
beginning, in the first of this passage, to believe on Christ
to declare His Word and to do that which is right among men.
Do that which is equitable and keep judgment. But He is teaching
you that while you do that, don't look to yourself, don't look
to the law at all. Because if you do, you're going
to be discouraged and you're going to feel like you're utterly
separated from God. Let me make a statement to you,
and I want you to get this statement. Any man who goes to the law and
finds encouragement in his law keeping is a lost man. He's a lost man. He's deceived.
When John speaks about those that keep God's commandments,
and are encouraged by keeping God's commandments. It's the
commandments which says, believe on my son, rest in my son from
all your works and love your brethren. This is what the new
man is. This is how he's created. He
loves the Lord and he loves his brethren by God's grace. And
anytime you go back to that law and you look to yourself, you're
going to find discouragement. Because what you're doing is
you're automatically saying that you have to do something to make
yourself differ from others, to make yourself better than
others, to make yourself accepted with God. And when you do that,
you're going to find discouragement if you're a true believer. Because... We don't keep it. And God's made
us honest about that. We just don't. We just don't.
Now, it's always our old man that's making us look back. That's
who it is. It's our old man. But look at
Colossians 3. Look at Colossians 3. This is
what he tells us. He had a Gentile He's thinking
he's separated from God because the law said it. And here you
got a eunuch, he thinks he's separated from God because the
law said it. But look at what the gospel teaches us, brethren.
Colossians 3, 9. He says, in Colossians 3, 9,
he says, Seeing that ye, speaking of believers, have put off the
old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Christ created this new man.
And this new man is created in the image of Christ and renewed
in the knowledge of Christ. And in this new man, in Christ
Jesus, there's neither Greek nor Jew. Gentiles in Israel,
Gentiles and Jews don't even exist before God in Christ. Do we get that? I get so, I get
so I don't even know the word, but when men want to constantly
build those walls back up and speak of Israel and the Gentiles. We shouldn't do that, brethren.
In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek. Look here. There's
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. There's neither those who are
under the covenant of works or those that are not. We're all
out from under that. We're all one in Christ. There's
neither barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. But Christ is
all, and He's in all. You see there? Christ is all.
Christ is all. This is why we don't preach works.
This is why we don't... I don't preach about how this
one's works makes him to differ from that one's works and how
this one is circumcised and keeps the law and that one's uncircumcised
and don't keep the law. I don't preach those things,
brethren. Why? I preach Christ, because Christ
is all to the believer. Those things that once made us
thought whereby we once thought made us to differ are gone now.
Old things are passed away. All things have become new. We're
in Christ. New creatures in Christ. Paul
said, it's not circumcision or uncircumcision that avails. It's
a new creature. It's been created anew by God,
by His grace, so that now you rest in Christ, that He's all
and He's in all His people. Now, Christ came forth and he
fulfilled the law. God gave the law, and before
he did it, you know there was not Gentiles or Israel. They didn't exist. It was just
everybody was children of Adam. We were all just Gentiles. Abraham
was a Gentile. But when God gave the law, he
put a distinction between the Jew and the Gentile, between
Israel and the rest of the world. Why did he do that? Why did he
do that? He tells us in the law. He told
when they were in Egypt, he said that you may know it's the Lord
that does put a difference between his people and Egypt. That's
why he did it. He did it to show us that if
you're going to differ from another sinner, God's the one that's
going to make you differ. And He's going to do it by choosing
you and fulfilling His law for you and creating you a new creature
so that you rest in His Son. And that's what's going to make
you to differ, because the rest of the world don't do that. The
rest of the world is looking at themselves and saying, I've
made myself to differ. His people rest in Christ and
say, He alone made me to differ. And Christ came forth. Now, that
law was a middle wall between us. It was a middle wall between
us. Look over to Ephesians chapter
2. Look here, it says verse 11. Remember that you've
been in time past Gentiles in the flesh. You were called the
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in
the flesh made by hands. That is, the fleshly sons of
Abraham would have called us who are Gentiles uncircumcised
and therefore heathens. He says this in verse 12. At
that time you were without Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. You were strangers from the covenants
of promise. You had no hope and you were
without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off, are made nigh, made near by the blood
of Christ. For He's our peace, who's made
both one. He's made us one with God, and
He's made us one with our brethren. It doesn't matter where they're
from, what nation they're from, He's made us one with them. How
did He do that? Look at the rest of the verse
14. He broke down the middle wall of partition between us.
He broke down. What was that middle wall of
partition? It was the law. He fulfilled it and he broke
it down. Look, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances for the making
himself of two, one new man, so make in peace. In the synagogue
there was a wall that divided the Jew from the Gentile. There was a wall that divided
the male from the female. It was just division. And that's
what the law did. The law divided us from God.
The law divided us from one another. It was the thing that stirred
up the enmity in our hearts to say, I differ from you because
I do this and I don't do that. Christ came and fulfilled it
and took that wall out of the way, making his people one in
him. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. and he came and he preached peace
to you which were far off and to them that were nigh, for through
him We both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. And now,
therefore, you're no more strangers and foreigners." The law's out
of the way, he says. Don't go back to that law and
say, oh, I'm utterly separated from the Lord's people because
I'm a Gentile. No, he says to the believer, that law's taken
out of the way. You're not strangers and foreigners.
You're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of
God. Look here, you're built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom, in Christ, all the buildings
fitly frame together and grows unto a holy temple in the Lord. He's saying to us, that old temple
is not even, doesn't even have any significance anymore. He's
saying you're the temple now. You're the temple now. You're
the citizens of... You're my city now. Not that
old Jerusalem. Not that old Mount Zion. You're
the Mount Zion. You're the city. And you're the
temple, he's saying. That's what he says of his people.
Look. "...in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation
of God through the Spirit." This is because Christ came forth
and fulfilled the law completely. He can fulfill the law completely.
So He says, now, don't go back and dig up that wall again. And
that's what you do. If you go back to the law, you
build that wall back up. And you try to say, see, I've
made myself to differ. By my works, I've made myself
to differ. God will smite you down into
hell for eternity. He won't have it. His Son did
it. His Son fulfilled the law. That's
the only way God will receive us, brethren. Here's the last
word. Here's a word of assurance. A
word of assurance. Look at Isaiah 56.4. Now, the eunuch, remember the
eunuch, the eunuch was a man, here's a believer, but he's a
eunuch. And according to the law, he
couldn't come into the Lord's house at all. He could not be
a priest unto God at all. And He could not bring forth
any fruit at all. That's me and that's you by nature.
That's us by nature. We couldn't come into God's presence
at all. We could not be a priest unto
God, serving God, worshipping God at all. And we could not
by any means bring forth any fruit whatsoever. He said Christ
fulfilled the law. And now look what he says he
does for you and me who are his eunuchs. Look here. He says,
Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath
and choose the things that please me and take hold of my covenant.
In other words, Thus saith the Lord to you who believe on the
Lord Jesus. Look. Even unto them will I give
in mine house and within my walls a place. They couldn't come into
God's house. They couldn't come into God's
house. And God says, I'm going to give to you now, because of
what my son did, I'm going to give you a place in my house. And I'm going to give you a place
in my walls. You know what that means? That
means that he takes a sinner who before could not even come
into God's holy presence, into his holy temple. And he makes
you his temple. That's what we just read in Ephesians
2. You built up a spiritual house. He takes and he says, I'm going
to give you a place. You had no place in God's house.
You couldn't even come into God's house. You couldn't come into
his presence at all. You couldn't be a priest under
God because of our sin. But because Christ fulfilled
the righteousness of the law, he says now, I've made you not
only a priest, I've made you a king priest. a king and a priest. And he says here to us, we couldn't
bring any fruit at all. We couldn't produce fruit. Now
with Christ dwelling in us, he said there in Romans 7, you've
been separated from the law. That old husband is dead. You
didn't bring forth any fruit when you were under that old
husband's rule. He was strict. He found something wrong with
everything he did and you never brought forth any fruit. He's
dead, that you may lawfully be married to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that by that fruitful husband you may bring forth fruit unto
God. And so He says to you this, look,
He says, I'm going to give you a name better than of sons and
daughters. You complaining that you're not
bringing forth any fruit? I'm going to give you something
better than that. He says, I'll give you an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off. an everlasting name. Do you see
that? Everything that he complained
about, I can't come into God's house, now you are the house.
I can't be a priest, now you're a royal priesthood. I can't bring
forth fruit, I made you my son. This is a name wherewith he shall
be called, the Lord our righteousness. And this is a name wherewith
she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. What's Adam and Eve's name? Adam.
What's Christ and His bride's name? Christ. The Lord our righteousness. Look over to 1 Peter. Look at
verse 2. Chapter 2 verse 5. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." All that old
covenant, the temple, all the sacrifices, everything that went
on under the old covenant, brethren, was to picture Christ and His
people and what He makes His people. And He says, now, you
don't need that temple. You're the temple. You don't
need a priest. I've made you a priest. And you
don't need those carnal sacrifices. You offer up spiritual sacrifices,
the calves of your lips, glorifying and praising God for the works
He's done for you. Look here. Look here. in verse
9, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. The word
royal means a king, and the word priesthood means priest. You
are a king-priest, a nation of king-priests unto me. And he
says, A holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth
the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. You see that? We are strangers
and pilgrims to this world, whereas before we were strangers and
pilgrims to God. You know, He's brought us in
and made us His house now. And look here, now look at what
He says to the Gentile. That was to the eunuch. Now look
at what He says to the Gentile. Back in our text, in verse Six,
also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord
to serve him, that love the name of the Lord, to be his servant,
everyone that keep the Sabbath from polluting again and taking
hold of my covenant. Now remember, that's how they worship God.
A true believer worship God that way under the old covenant. But
Christ has fulfilled it, and now this same word is said to
you and I in this simple way. You who believe on my Son, you
who rest in my Son, who are Gentiles. This is what he says to us. Even
them will I bring to my holy mountain. That's what the law
forbid. The law forbid a Gentile coming
into Mount Zion. But now, he's not talking about
that earthly Mount Zion. He's talking about heavenly Mount
Zion. He brings us into heavenly Mount Zion. He says, and I'll
make them joyful in my house of prayer. The house of prayer. What is that? What's significant
about that? It's not a house of carnal sacrifices. It's not
a house of touch not, taste not, handle not. It's not a house
where we're trying to make ourselves accepted to God. It's a house
of prayer. That means of worship. That means
we're praising God for what He's done for us. That's what it means. And that praise is the calves
of your lips. That praise takes the place of
burnt offerings and sacrifices that were presented under the
Old Covenant. And look at this now. He says, and these burnt
offerings and these sacrifices, That is the spiritual sacrifices
that we now offer, praising God, glorifying God, thanking Him
for His works. That's what we're doing here
now. You're hearing His works preached. We're glorifying God
for the works He's done. He says, and these sacrifices
will come up to me, accepted upon mine altar. Who's the altar? I don't see an altar here, do
you? Christ is our altar. He's our altar. Listen to...
Turn over to Hebrews 13. I'll show you this real quick.
Hebrews 13. Verse 10. We have an altar whereof
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. He's saying,
those folks who are still trying to be under the old covenant
law, still trying to worship under the law and come to God
in the law, still serving that carnal temporal tabernacle, they
have no right to come to our altar. None at all. Well, who's
our altar? Look here. He says, "...the bodies
of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by
the high priest for sin are burned without the count. Wherefore,
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto
him without the count, bearing his reproach." There's our altar. He's our altar. Now look, about
this sacrifice, this praise we give to Him, verse 15. By Him,
therefore, upon our altar, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually. The sacrifice of praise to God
continually. That is, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. How could us dry tree eunuchs
bear fruit under his name. Philippians 1 says, Fruits of
righteousness are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of
God the Father. That's how. That's how. That's
what you do in his house. You remember when the Lord, the
money changers were in the house and the Lord went in there and
he cast them all out. And he quoted this verse right
here in our text. Look back at Isaiah 56. And look at verse 7 at the end. He says, He says, Remember the
Lord said that to him? And here he adds, for all people.
It means that all the people that come to God's house are
all coming the same way. Every one of them. It don't matter who they are
in the flesh, what background they came from, what nation they
came from, what former idolatry they were in. It doesn't matter.
They all come into God the same way, in Christ the Lord, every
one of them. And he says, and this, his house,
is a house of prayer. Now, when he went into that house,
what the Lord was angry about, what he was upset with is, he
said, you've turned this into a den of thieves. You're selling
sacrifices. So folks come in off the street,
they didn't have time to put up a lamb and keep it and watch
it and make sure it was out blemished and let it settle in their heart
and understand the relationship between them and Christ Jesus
and see the picture and the type and be convicted in their heart
over their sin and worship God in spirit and in truth. They
didn't have time to do that. They could just run up like a
five and dime and run in there and pay their money and get a
sacrifice and offer it and off they went back to what they really
wanted to be doing. And He said, My house is not a house of buying
and selling. My house is not a house where
you can buy redemption and sell redemption. He said in Isaiah
55, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Come ye,
buy and eat and drink without money and without price. The
salvation that God has given His people is accomplished by
Christ. He paid the price and therefore it's free to His people.
And so when he speaks here of a house of prayer, it's in opposition
to a house of works. It's a house of prayer and praise
and worship of God as opposed to a house of you working and
you trying to buy and barter for redemption and for salvation
with God. That's those that serve the tabernacle. That's those that are offering
sacrifices, trying to do good works and all that and come to
God and think that's going to help them out with God. They
have no right to this altar. They have no right to come to
God in Christ, our Redeemer. This is a house of prayer. We
thank God, we praise God for His works, not talk about our
work. All right, now. In case we forget who's doing
the gathering, who gets the glory for all this, God adds a yet
to the last word. Look here in Isaiah 8. Now, don't
forget. Let me set this up. We're here
to preach the gospel. We're here to preach the gospel.
We're here to declare the work's finished. Christ has fulfilled
the law. Take the yoke off his people
and declare here's our Sabbath rest. We're resting in Christ
the Lord. This is God's command to us.
Go forth and preach this message. And we get to complaining about
we're not bringing forth any fruit. We're not bringing any
sons or daughters to Christ. We're not bringing forth children
of God to Christ. Well, we can't. We can't produce
fruit of ourselves. But he shows us here, and he
said, now I've brought you to my house. I'm going to make you
fruitful in my house. I've already gathered you in. I've given you this gospel to
declare, to keep equity and do judgment in the earth. He says,
but now remember this. Verse 8, the Lord God, which
gathereth the outcasts of Israel, saith, yet will I gather to Christ,
right alongside those which are already gathered, He is there
to be gathered unto him. He's saying, don't you fret now
about no sons or daughters coming to me. I'm gathering my people.
You just do what you're sent to do. Hold up the banner. Hold
up the banner. I'll make my people see the banner,
and I'll make them rally to the banner. Christ our banner. He
said you just hold him up and he's near. He said he's near
and his righteousness to be revealed and he'll make it known in the
hearts of his people. He says to you and me take with
you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him take away all
iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves
of our lips. Don't keep don't don't go on
trying to work out of righteousness Don't go on trying to find acceptance
with God by something in you and something you've done This
is his word take with you words and Turn to the Lord Because
if you're trying to come to him by work of yours, you're not
you're not turned to him right now You're turned away from turn
to the Lord and say unto him take away all iniquity He alone
can do it. And receive us graciously. Receive us by your grace, Lord.
Not by our works, by your grace. So will we render, not the works
of our hands, not the sacrifice, the calves of our lips. Praise
God. That'll please God more than
a calf or a bullock. more than your sacrifices. He
says, believe on my side, believe on my side. And believer, if
you're looking to yourself for assurance, if you're trying to
find assurance in yourself, stop it. Just stop it. Don't do it anymore. He said
there in Colossians 3, you set your affections on Christ. It's
not like, it's just as though you're living in the world. Your
life is with kid in Christ at God's right hand. That's the
reality. And he says, look there. You don't have to be under ordinances.
Touch not, taste not, handle not. You can't get more righteous
than righteous. Do you think Christ is under
a law? Do you? No. He's the righteousness of
the law. That's what his people are in
him. We're not under a law. The law wasn't made for a righteous
man. We're righteous in Christ. Accepted. Complete. As He is,
so are we in this world. Lord, I pray to give you grace
to understand that and rest in Him. Rest in Him. And our righteousness,
our salvation is near and is soon to be revealed. Very soon. Believe Him. Believe Him. Alright,
brethren.